Hospitalized With RSV

You know it isn't a good sign when your child falls asleep during a breathing treatment at 5:00 in the afternoon. That is exactly what happened Friday evening, January 29th, when Abigail was getting what I thought to be a "normal" breathing treatment. After realizing that she had fallen asleep, I checked her forehead and sure enough she had fever. No biggie, we had had a few late nights so I thought she was just overly tired. I let her rest for a little while, got her up, did our nightly routine, and put all the kids to bed. She woke up early Saturday morning and crawled into bed with Ross and I and fell back asleep. This is where she stayed all day. In our bed. When I say all day, I literally mean all day long. I had to carry her to the bathroom to go potty; with her crying the whole time. She slept for hours at a time, and just when it would get to the point where I felt like we needed to take her somewhere she would wake up for a little while. She was only awake for about 20 minutes at a time, but at least we knew she was still responsive. Now you have to remember that because of all of the snow, all of the doctor's offices were closed; which meant if we did take her somewhere it would have to be the ER. Up until this point Abigail has never really been sick. Sick with EE, yes. Sick with a cold, yes, but really sick with an illness? No. I had listened to her lungs and they sounded clear and her temp wasn't terribly high; so we called it a night and all went to bed. Then Sunday arrived. Same thing. Won't get out of bed, won't drink her formula, won't talk, and temp is hanging out right around 103. The only good thing we had going at this point is that she had been drinking water so we knew she wasn't getting dehydrated. After giving her a bath, I noticed that her hands and feet were kind of gray in color. Thinking they were just cold, I tried warming them up. Then I had Ross try. While he was trying, I decided I needed to listen to her lungs. That is when I knew we needed to take her to the emergency room. At this point she wasn't wheezing, but she had significant crackles (indicative of pneumonia) in the bottom right lobe, and her lungs had been perfectly clear the day before. By the time we could get to the ER she was retracting at the trachea, indicating that her breathing was becoming more labored. Her pulse ox was 87 and dropping rapidly, even after a Xopenex updraft. She had two more breathing treatments and was placed on oxygen. After each of the breathing treatments, her pulse ox continually dropped, and she was admitted for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and viral pneumonia. She was on continual oxygen for five days straight. Just when they thought they could wean her down, they would have to up it again. Let me just say that it is very frustrating to see your child get weaned down to 1/4 of a liter of oxygen just to turn around a few hours later and see her back up to 2 1/2 liters. The oxygen levels continued going up and down until Friday morning when she woke up and was suddenly much better. After several hours off of the oxygen (including a nap without it) we were finally able to go home. We sure were glad to get home and finally be able to sleep in our own beds! Of coarse during this hospital stay, the other 3 kids ended up sick. We think Hannah must have been the original RSV culprit because she had what we thought to be "just a cold" the week before. So, she ended up with a secondary ear infection. Mary Grace and Jonathan both came down with RSV a couple of days after Abbz was in the hospital. Ross had the two sick big girls at home, and I had both sick babies with me in the hospital. At one point Ross asked me if they had family rooms at the hospital. :) Luckily, none of the other kiddos got it as badly as Abigail! Needless to say, if any of your kids get RSV, brace yourself and prepare for your entire family to end up with it. It's apparently highly contagious because we have never had all of the kids sick at one time before.

One Month Appointment

Jonathan is a growin' boy! He now weighs 9 pounds 7 ounces and is 22 inches long. This puts him in the 50th percentile for weight and 100th for height. Taking after his two biggest sisters he is! Other than having a slight umbilical hernia that will correct on it's own, he is just perfect.

Photo by Amanda Dietz Scott

Jonathan Ross Green

Introducing Jonathan Ross Green. Born at 9:42 pm on December 10, 2009. He weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. As you can see from the first picture, he was a bit blue after birth and needed a little help. He stayed in the NICU for a brief time for observation and it was determined that he just didn't have time to squeeze all of the amniotic fluid from his lungs because he came down so quickly.

So I had to have a picture of all the "stuff" on him. It's actually sad when it feels normal to see your child with an IV. I told Ross that it just seemed to fit. If you have a child in the hospital, it's only fitting that there be an IV; right? Now, I know this is not normal especially for a newborn. I did tell him that he didn't have to try so hard to prove he was part of the family; we will keep him...healthy and all! ;) Abbz was really sweet. She kept touching the IV, saying I have one of those. I think it was a bonding experience for the two of them.


The Green kids! My sweet girls and little guy. Somehow they all look different, yet they all favor. As Mandy would say, they are definitely Green Babies!

Look what Santa left us under the tree. The best little Christmas present ever! Eight pounds of pure joy!!

Update and Birthday Wish!

Here I am, and yes I am still alive. Quite frankly, I just have not felt like even getting on the computer much less blogging. The baby and I are doing okay. He is still growing well, and I am too! ;) I had some significant swelling at my appointment yesterday, but my blood pressure is still holding steady so for now everything is still good. Dr. P is out all week so I am praying that this week proves to be a good one. The swelling is still pretty bad which is usually an indicator that my blood pressure is either on the rise or going to be. We are hoping to get me to 36 weeks, he would be happier with 37 weeks, and if I have not delivered by 38 weeks, he will for sure induce me then. So before Christmas we should have a happy, healthy baby boy in our arms at home. The best Christmas present ever!! Oh, I guess you probably would like to know how far along I am right now...35 weeks tomorrow. On another note, I have officially reached that point in my pregnancy when I can no longer sleep. Going to sleep usually isn't the problem, staying asleep, now that is a different story. If something wakes me, I am pretty much up for the night. I have been awake since 3:30 this morning, and don't foresee me going to sleep until bedtime tonight. Oh well. I guess God is preparing me for when Jonathan arrives. I have joked in the past that I have to have a baby to get any rest, and this time I am definitely thinking that may be the case. Oh.......I just realized what today is.........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL!!!!!!!!!!!
Today is Abigail's 3rd Birthday! I really cannot believe it. She is getting so big, and her personality is really beginning to shine through. She has come a long way over the past two years health-wise, physically, and developmentally and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her. Daddy, Mommy, and the Girls love you very much and hope today is a very special day for you! What was it you wanted?...a white kitty cat (stuffed animal) with green eyes? I guess we will have to see if your birthday wish comes true!

Sweet Boy!

Here is a profile of Jonathan sucking his thumb. What a sweet boy!

Well, I had my 31 week appointment today. After an ultrasound to check Jonathan's growth, it was determined that he is a very healthy growing boy! It is estimated that he already weighs 4 lbs 10 oz., and he is measuring 11 days bigger than his due date shows he should be. As if I wasn't stressed that he was going to be a big boy before now, I really am after hearing that news! For goodness sakes, Ross weighed 11 pounds. Eleven pounds! Now I figure that I will be delivering before I am full term, so hopefully I won't be having anywhere near an eleven pound baby. The goal right now is to make it to 36 weeks. That will be December 2, and Dr. P will be on-call then; so for now, December 2nd is the goal. From here on out, I will have a non-stress test to check for baby distress and prenatal visits every week until delivery. I could be bringing home this sweet baby boy in 5 weeks. Oh, and bed rest. He did say that he was not putting me on strict bed rest, but that I do really need to take it easy. In his words, "I don't want you out running around all day, but taking care of your kids is okay." So, I will take it easy so that I can bring home my beautiful baby boy.

Bed Rest

That's right folks, it's that time again. My blood pressure has been a little elevated for a couple of weeks now, but it spiked pretty high today. After seeing the on-call doctor this afternoon, monitoring the baby, and doing lab work, I was told to increase my medication and take it easy. "Take it easy" translates into bed rest. So for now it isn't strict bed rest. I just have to take it easy, laying around as much as possible...no cooking, cleaning, or shopping. Sounds like strict bed rest to me! Well, she did tell me that "if I had to" I could pick up and take the girls to school. Actually she said that realistically, complete bed rest would probably be impossible with three children. I appreciated the fact that she took that into consideration. All she kept saying was do as little as possible, call in favors from friends, have my husband help, and so forth. The husband helping isn't a problem. He is really great about helping with the kids, doing laundry, picking up the house, etc. Just so you know, as I am writing all of this my husband is reading over my shoulder (out loud I might add) in his seductive voice. No really, he is! Silly boy!! The only problem with all of this is that I am not at all prepared. When I was pregnant with Abigail, I already had the nursery done, most of the Christmas presents purchased, and all of the baby stuff done. I am not prepared at all! Nothing is done. I still have baby stuff I need. I haven't even started on Jonathan's room, and as for Christmas...well, Merry Christmas...they may be all anyone is getting. Have I mentioned that the baby bed and bassinet are still in the attic? Oh my. The good news is that she did allow me to still be a bridesmaid in my sister's wedding. I just have to sit down immediately following the ceremony and have people cater to me at the reception. Hum? How well do you think that will go with 3 little girls running around? I didn't mention to her that the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are tomorrow night. I figure I just need to make it through this weekend and then I can really take it easy. I may just have to excuse myself and lay down and rest for a bit while dealing with the wedding and stuff, but that will be okay. I have to go instruct my children (from the couch) to start their bed time routine now. This should be interesting...

Small-town Inconvenience

I love the small-town qualities of Siloam Springs, but it also has it's inconveniences. A major one being that it does not have a 24 hour pharmacy. Hey, at this point I would settle for one staying open until 9 or 10 on a Saturday night. We think there is a pretty good chance Mary Grace has the flu. Well, either that or mono. Both Sarah and Blair have mono, and we are pretty sure that Coy and Daddy have it too :( . Now, there is a better chance that MG has the flu than mono so Dr. B called in Tamiflu and said to start taking it immediately. Hence the reason I wish there was a 24 hour pharmacy here. Ross is on his way to Fayetteville as we speak to pick up said Tamiflu. Here is to hoping the Tamiflu works and we don't have to worry about anything more than keeping the rest of the family healthy!